Recently someone was telling me about a church service they attended where they left feeling frustrated and anything but encouraged. The sermon was about how “broken” and “wounded” we as Christians are and the Lord is pleased with our brokenness. At the end of the service they handed out tiny homemade crutches to remind those attending the service, that in their brokenness they have support. I believe this individual probably meant well so I don’t want to judge their heart or motives. However a lot of the talk on “brokenness” is coming from a place of ignorance and confusion. There has been many messages taught, songs sung and articles written about how broken we are but what does that mean? Without going too in depth the Bible mentions a broken spirit as a form of repentance and humbling of oneself. We see this clearly in the 51st Psalm David is humbling himself and is repenting for his adultery with Bathsheba and in verse 17 it says The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise. If you study these phrases “broken spirit” and “contrite heart” they have almost identical applications, it expresses a Godly sorrow which leads to repentance (2 Cor. 7:10) or a humbling of oneself. This is in contrast to what the Bible calls hardhearted, this hardhearted condition is mentioned often throughout the Bible and is the opposite of a humble and repentant person, instead it is a person full of pride and unrepentant which can keep someone from receiving and experiencing God’s promises. When something is too hard nothing can penetrate, nothing, including God himself can get through that is why it needs to be softened or broken down. Even in the case of the first generation of Israelites, God himself could not get through to them. Yes that sounds like a big statement but in James 4:6, which is New Testament, it says: But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Without the grace of God you can not receive and enjoy the blessings God has for you, this is the case for the unbeliever-they have not humbled themselves or repented and because of that have not received God’s grace of salvation. This humbling or breaking of this hardhearted condition is something you must do yourself, it’s not God humbling you. If the Lord was going to force anyone to humble themselves he would have done it with the first generation of Israelites and he would do it now with every unsaved person. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land, Luke 14:11 says For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 1 Peter 5:6 says Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time… However today it would probably be better to use the word humble instead of broken, otherwise it causes unnecessary confusion and we also don’t want to brag about how humble(broken) we are because then we are no longer being humble.
So what about the person that was hurt or wounded by a tragic incident or that had their heart broken by someone or something? Luke 4:18 says The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, to preach DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES, and recovering of sight to the blind, to SET AT LIBERTY THEM THAT ARE BRUISED.. The brokenhearted in this verse is a person that has been hurt and wounded by life whether caused by the death of a loved one or the betrayal or pain caused by another individual, Jesus said he came to heal the brokenhearted person. Healing literally means to loosen you, to free you from the damaging and harmful effects. Jesus said he was SENT to heal AND to set you free if you’ve been bruised, the anointing is more than capable and more than enough to completely heal you as though the thing that caused you pain and heartache never happened or never occurred. You do not have to be damaged, wounded or scarred for life. 1 John 3:8 says For this PURPOSE the Son of God was manifested, that he might DESTROY the works of the devil..the word destroy here means to loosen, undo, dissolve and break. Jesus’ ability and power to destroy or completely undo what the devil did was and is greater than the damage and pain caused by the devil. Sure there are and will be things in this life that can hurt, cause pain and that by the grace of God you’ll have to overcome. But I do not for one moment believe Jesus failed at his PURPOSE or that he lied when he said he was SENT to HEAL the BROKENHEARTED, do you? You may ask, if I am healed, why do I still feel broken? With any gift or grace God has provided it has to be received (taken) by faith, that means it’s not based on how you feel. For example you didn’t wait until you felt saved before you, by faith, received salvation, instead you received it by faith regardless of how you felt. Likewise, you go to the Father God and acknowledge that you believe Jesus has already provided your healing and by faith you receive it. Once you have received your healing stop identifying as someone who is broken and damaged, identify yourself with what Jesus did, identify yourself as the victor not the victim, the healed not the broken. When the devil tries to remind you of the hurt and pain he caused you and tells you that you are damaged and broken for life, remind him that you have received your healing and that Jesus completely destroyed, loosed and freed you from the negative effects of the pain he caused. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Our spirits have been born again, all that was broken and dead was and is made ALIVE by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and that Spirit lives in our Spirits according to Romans 8:11. Plus the Holy Spirit who is inside of us is RENEWING our Spirits every single day (2 Cor. 4:16) ! No, you don’t need crutches to remind you of how broken or damaged you WERE! See the devil doesn’t want you to know who you are, he wants you to believe you're damaged goods. But you are a new person now, you are healed now and healed people soar on wings like eagles; they run and don’t grow weary, they walk and do not faint (Isaiah 40:31), healed people run through a troop; and by God leap over a wall (Psalm 18:29). I have never seen a man running through troops or leaping over walls with crutches! Let’s stop identifying ourselves as “broken” and start identifying ourselves as OVERCOMING, VICTORIOUS children of God!
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